Today a great deal of printed material which people receive is part form letter and part personalized for the individual receiving the document. Through the use of computers and high-speed electronic variable data printers, these customized documents can be created automatically with custom information being supplied by a computer database. One of the features that increases the speed at which the electronic variable data printers can process paper is by being fed a continuous web or roll of paper rather than individual sheets or fanfold perforated paper.
The major manufacturers and resellers of electronic continuous web printers are IBM, OCE and Xerox. The speed of these types of printers is continually increasing and are currently capable of running at speeds of up to 310 feet per minute of paper web which equates to about 466 pages of customized letters per minute. Such electronic high speed continuous web printers are extremely expensive and can cost several hundred thousand dollars making proper maintenance of the printers essential and down or stop time costly.
One of the largest obstacles to keeping electronic continuous web printers running correctly is the accumulation of paper dust, chad and static within the printer. Paper dust and chad gathers upon components within the printer which can cause the printer to jam, stop and function irregularly. These unwanted particles within the printer also cause contamination of the final printed product as well as internal printer mechanisms making it unacceptable to customers causing time and money to be wasted. Static electricity built up on the paper web furthers the accumulation of contaminants as it tends to attract paper dust and chad within the environment. In addition, static electric charges cause damage to the electronic components within the electronic variable data printers causing significant periods of down time and costly repairs.
Up to now all that could be done to prevent damage to the electronic printers and the printed product itself was to periodically stop the printing process and clean the paper dust and chad from the printer using a vacuum or other miscellaneous tools. Significant costs are attributed to this type of maintenance because there is down time in which no printed product can be produced while the cleaning is being done and additional manpower must be expended as the cleaning must be done manually. Consumables such as toner and developer must also be replaced more often as they to become contaminated by the paper dust.
An additional problem caused by the paper dust and chad is that because the paper webs are being processed at high speeds some of the dust is discharged into the surrounding work environment and poses significant health problems for workers in and around the electronic continuous web printers.
Therefore, in light of the foregoing deficiencies in the prior art, the applicants invention is herein presented.